This past Saturday some friends and I went to the Free Software Foundation associate member meeting in Boston (wherein fun can always be had watching Eben Moglen try to moderate the antics of rms).

The meeting itself was very similar to last year’s, though this time around I had an easier time staying awake (on account of rediscovering coffee). The overall tone was a lot more hopeful, I think; though I’m the sort of person that gets paranoid when things get too hopeful (also, when they don’t, but that shouldn’t be news to anyone). It seemed to me like last year was a rallying cry, and this year was more of a “now we see what happens” thing.

To be sure, there is an interesting plot brewing on the part of the FSF, but I fear the competition likely has an even more insidious plot brewing. Also, I still have the feeling that GPLv3 won’t really “solve” the DRM problem the way the FSF thinks it will. Instead, I think it will just cause any handy GPLv2 software to get forked into GPLv3 and GPLv2 versions, spreading dissent between the free software community and everyone else who uses/develops free software merely because it is technically superior, and not out of principle.

Theoretically, this could all blow up in the face of the FSF. Only time will tell.

On Sunday, several of us went to the Museum of Science, which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone unless they think seeing an anatomical model of a woman with glowing breasts is worth $16. For half that price, you can visit both the Museum of the Earth and the Sciencenter in Ithaca and get better science and more bones. But no breasts, of course.

Those of you who have known me for more than about 15 minutes have surely heard the tale of a nightmare I had as a young child wherein I see the grim reaper stalking me through a mirror.

Since then I’ve felt uneasy looking into mirrors in the dark, especially when there are multiple mirrors about.

Well, if you hadn’t heard that story, you have now, so surely you’ll understand why this video interests me so much (unlike Marty, when something scares me, it amazes me, and I actively seek out movies and such that feature it).

If I were in that position, I would definitely not be as calm and composed as these people. In fact, I would likely scream and run from that place as fast as I could, and promptly get run over by a car in the street outside.

Saturday morning happicow and I left home before dawn to rendezvous with a friend of his and go on a quest to look at boats.

The quest was long (about 40 hours) and hard (about 20 hours worth of round-trip travel), with some pains (less than a dozen steps from my door I slipped on ice and re-busted my long-ago broken tailbone), and some boons (of the museum-visiting variety).

Our road was long and winding going first from Ithaca to Toms River, NJ (with a few detours where North became South and East became West); and them from there to Lottsburg, VA, thence to Arlington, VA and Washington, D.C., then returning back to Ithaca.

Our quest was a success, in that happicow found the boat he wishes to buy, and IHOP and Chinese food were had by all.

Despite all the museuming I don’t think we learned anything, excepting that before recent history, no matter the time or the place, the average heights of men and women were consistently 5’7″ and 5’2″, respectfully (at least, that’s what this revision of history says). Also, I learned that my taxpayer dollars do pay for something: namely, admission to the Smithsonian.